Do you talk on the phone or text when you drive? Do you fiddle with your navigator or stereo or other devices? Driving distractions caused by cell phone calls and texting and by the increasing array of automotive gadgets have become a serious problem.
Recently, as I was waiting for a light at a busy Boston intersection, a huge mobile crane navigated a left turn past me. I looked up at the driver as the crane lumbered past and saw an otherwise competent looking guy talking on his cell phone. At first I was taken aback, but then I thought, well at least he's just talking and not texting.
A recent NY Times series on driving distractions showed the dangers of distracted driving, the failure of state legislators to respond, the withholding of cell phone safety data by a federal agency, and the results of a study on truck driver texting. Here are a few of the points made in the articles:
Drivers using cell phones are four times as likely to cause a crash as other drivers, with about the same likelihood as intoxicated drivers with an .08 percent blood alcohol level.
Research shows that using hands-free devices may be as dangerous as holding a phone because the conversation distracts drivers from focusing on the road.
A study of texting by truck drivers found that texting made their collision risk 23 times as great.
A Harvard study estimated that cell phone distractions caused 2,600 traffic deaths every year, and 330,000 accidents that result in moderate or severe injuries.
A 2007 NHTSA study estimated that at any time during daylight hours in 2007, 11 percent of drivers were using a cell phone.
A Nationwide Mutual Insurance survey found that 81 percent of cell phone owners talk on phones when driving but considered themselves safe drivers, although nearly half said they had been hit or nearly hit by a driver talking on a phone.
Although cars and roads have gotten much safer, car accident fatalities have stayed at the same level over recent years, apparently because of the distracting devices we use in our cars.
The articles:
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